So we know that the voting system for the 2026 Welsh Parliament election is new, moving to a full proportional list system that is the same as the 'top up' lists used since 1999. 

But how are the parties choosing who can stand on these new regional lists, and in what order? And importantly, what type of person puts themself forward for the arcane and arduous process of candidacy in the first place? We discuss it all in this episode, recorded in the Senedd itself.

#Senedd26 #Wales #cymru 

You can learn how the new voting system works using Dr Jac Larner's modeller here: https://blogs.cardiff.ac.uk/thinking-wales/the-2026-senedd-election-simulator-one-year-to-go/

Your hosts:
Prof Laura McAllister of the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University, former national football team captain and Vice President at UEFA
Lauren McEvatt, former Conservative Special Advisor to the Wales Office in UK Govt
Lee Waters, Labour Party Member of the Senedd for Llanelli and former Welsh Govt Minister

Find us on the socials:
YouTube:  www.youtube.com/@WelshPoliticsPod
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@welshpolitics
Instagram: www.instagram.com/welshpoliticspod/
X: www.x.com/WelshPolitics99
BlueSky: www.bsky.app/profile/welshpolitics.bsky.social
Web: www.welsh-politics.com

Produced by Richard Martin for Mimosa Cymru
Artwork by Alison Hurren
Music: Where Is It Instrumental by Jonworthymusic

Press/Media queries to podcast@welsh-poilitics.com

How are parties choosing their Senedd 2026 candidates?

Support us: buymeacoffee.com/colemansdream

Dai and Ruth return to discuss Jess Fishlock's final game in a Cymru shirt as we lost 2-1 to a strong Australia side. We also talk through the worrying defeat to Poland as Wilkinson experimented with her lineup. 

Australia and Poland Review

Wales has two governments, a national one in Cardiff and a union one in London. How they work together is crucial to improving the economy and public services. However, since national devolution in 1999, the formal structures of working between governments have yet to be built and the former territorial offices still act as a conduits or blockers to progress, depending on your point of view. 

The reality is that the factors that have determined success often come down to party politics, personal relationships, or personalities of those in key roles. Is this any way to get the best out of each government for the benefit of Wales? We discuss!

#Senedd26 #Wales #cymru 

Your hosts:
Prof Laura McAllister of the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University, former national football team captain and Vice President at UEFA
Lauren McEvatt, former Conservative Special Advisor to the Wales Office in UK Govt
Lee Waters, Labour Party Member of the Senedd for Llanelli and former Welsh Govt Minister

Find us on the socials:
YouTube:  www.youtube.com/@WelshPoliticsPod
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@welshpolitics
Instagram: www.instagram.com/welshpoliticspod/
X: www.x.com/WelshPolitics99
BlueSky: www.bsky.app/profile/welshpolitics.bsky.social
Web: www.welsh-politics.com

Produced by Richard Martin for Mimosa Cymru
Artwork by Alison Hurren
Music: Where Is It Instrumental by Jonworthymusic

Press/Media queries to podcast@welsh-poilitics.com

Wales's voice in Westminster or Westminster's voice in Wales?

Caiff Richard Wyn Jones ragor o hanes llenyddol ei fro enedigol yn y bennod hon wrth i ni drafod Goronwy Owen, bardd enwocaf Ynys Môn. Awgrymwn fod delfrydau llenyddol cylch y Morrisiaid i’w gweld ar eu mwyaf eglur ym marddoniaeth ‘Goronwy Ddu’, gan fod ei feistrolaeth ar y mesurau caeth wedi gwireddu i raddaeth health yr awydd i ailafael yn safonau’r beirdd Cymraeg canoloesol. 

Ac wrth esbonio’r estheteg sy’n gyrru llawer iawn o’i waith, cynigiwn ddiffiniad o ‘Awgwstaniaeth’ (gyda golwg ar y llyfr a gyhoeddwyd gan Saunders Lewis yn 1924). Gwrthgyferbynnwn y cerddi cain a gyfansoddwyd ganddo sy’n mynegi’i hiraeth am Ynys Môn â’r ffaith na ddychwelodd i Gymru ar ôl iddo ymadael, gan yn gyntaf ddilyn gyrfa eglwysig yn Lloegr a diweddu’i oes yn America fel perchennog planhigyfa dybaco a phedwar o gaethweision. Trafodwn hefyd y dylanwad a gâi ei farddoniaeth ar fudiad eisteddfodol y ganrif ddilynol.

**
Hiraeth for Anglesey: Goronwy Owen
Richard Wyn Jones receives more of his native region’s literary history in this episode as we discuss, Goronwy Owen, Anglesey’s most famous poet. We suggest that the literary ideals of the Morris circle are seen most clearly in the poetry of ‘Dark-haired Goronwy’, for his mastery of the strict metres realized to a great extent the desire to bring back the stands of the medieval Welsh bards.

And as we explain the aesthetics driving much of his work, we offer a definition of ‘Augustanism’ (with an eye to the book which Saunders Lewis published in 1924). We contrast the finely-crafted poems expressing his hiraeth or longing for Anglesey with the fact that he never returned to Wales after leaving, first to follow a career in the Church in England and ending his life in America as the owner of a tobacco plantation and four slaves. We also discuss the influence which his poetry would have on the eisteddfod movement of the following century.

Cyflwynwyd gan: Yr Athro Jerry Hunter a'r Athro Richard Wyn Jones 
Cynhyrchwyd gan Richard Martin i Cwmni Mimosa Cymru 
Cerddoriaeth: 'Might Have Done' gan The Molenes

Darllen Pellach/Further Reading:
- Saunders Lewis, A School of Welsh Augustans (Wrecsam, 1924)
- Branwen Jarvis, Goronwy Owen [:] Writers of Wales (Caerdydd, 1986)
- Alan Llwyd, Goronwy Ddiafael, Goronwy Ddu [:] Cofiant Goronwy Owen 1723-1769 (Llandybïe, 1997).

Pennod 74 - Hiraeth am Fôn: Goronwy Owen


With two weeks of dust settling and bad takes crumbling under scrutiny following the dramatic by-election result in Caerphilly, we look at the consequences of the resounding victory for Plaid Cymru, a bitter defeat for an ambitious Reform UK campaign and catastrophic losses for Labour and the Conservatives.

And as we start to turn our attentions to May 2026 we look at what the new numbers in the Senedd mean for the most important part of government business - the budget. Are there enough votes to get it over the line, or at least are there insufficient votes to stop it?

#Senedd26 #Wales #cymru 

Your hosts:
Prof Laura McAllister of the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University, former national football team captain and Vice President at UEFA
Lauren McEvatt, political commentator and former Conservative Special Advisor to the Wales Office in UK Govt
Lee Waters, Labour Party Member of the Senedd for Llanelli and former Welsh Govt Minister

Find us on the socials:
YouTube:  www.youtube.com/@WelshPoliticsPod
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@welshpolitics
Instagram: www.instagram.com/welshpoliticspod/
X: www.x.com/WelshPolitics99
BlueSky: www.bsky.app/profile/welshpolitics.bsky.social
Web: www.welsh-politics.com

Produced by Richard Martin for Mimosa Cymru
Artwork by Alison Hurren
Music: Where Is It Instrumental by Jonworthymusic

Press/Media queries to podcast@welsh-poilitics.com

The Road to May from Caerphilly - part 1

It's time to focus on the two 'main' parties of of British poltiics, who between them struggled to reach 14% of the vote in the Caerphilly. What can they do, if anything, to arrest their decline in Wales and maximise their result in May? And where does the power lie to make those decisions - London or Cardiff?

We also map out the scenarios that the Welsh Government can use to get its budget passed before March. Will it be a deal with the Conservatives, the independents, Plaid Cymru, or is the 'nuclear' option of an early election in the joint interest of Labour and the Conservatives as a super majority? Could we be set for one more 60-seat parliament? Laura thinks not!

#Senedd26 #Wales #cymru 

Your hosts:
Prof Laura McAllister of the Wales Governance Centre at Cardiff University, former national football team captain and Vice President at UEFA
Lauren McEvatt, political commentator and former Conservative Special Advisor to the Wales Office in UK Govt
Lee Waters, Labour Party Member of the Senedd for Llanelli and former Welsh Govt Minister

Find us on the socials:
YouTube:  www.youtube.com/@WelshPoliticsPod
TikTok: www.tiktok.com/@welshpolitics
Instagram: www.instagram.com/welshpoliticspod/
X: www.x.com/WelshPolitics99
BlueSky: www.bsky.app/profile/welshpolitics.bsky.social
Web: www.welsh-politics.com

Produced by Richard Martin for Mimosa Cymru
Artwork by Alison Hurren
Music: Where Is It Instrumental by Jonworthymusic

Press/Media queries to podcast@welsh-poilitics.com

The Road to May from Caerphilly - part 2

Altnaharra Gabh Air Ais

Bydd dilynwyr Yr Hen Iaith yn gyfarwydd iawn â’r modd y mae Richard Wyn Jones yn agor pob pennod trwy sôn am ‘hogyn o Ohio’ sy’n dysgu ‘hogyn o sir Fôn’ am hanes llenyddiaeth ei iaith ei hun. Dyma bennod a recordiwyd yn Ohio, a hynny o flaen cynulleidfa fyw fel rhan o gynhadledd NAASWCH eleni. 

Gan ein bod ni wedi gorffen y bennod ddiwethaf trwy sôn am ddiwedd oes Goronwy Owen yn Virginia, ailgydiwn yn y stori honno a thrafod yr unig gerdd a gyfansoddwyd gan y bardd enwog o Fôn yn America sydd wedi goroesi. Ond yn gyntaf rydym ni’n trafod y testunau Cymraeg cynharaf a ysgrifennwyd yn America – gan ddechrau â barddoniaeth gan forwyr o Gymru a gyfansoddwyd yn y Caribî. Dyma gyfle i ddysgu ffaith ysgubol: cyhoeddwyd llyfr Cymraeg yng Ngolgedd America dros hanner canrif cyn genedigaeth y wlad newydd honno, yr Unol Daleithiau. Nodwn hefyd nad ffaith yw’r chwedl boblogaidd am y Tywysog Madog, gan wybod yn iawn y bydd y datganiad yn siom i rai pobl.

***

‘A Country of forests and wild hills’: The Beginnings of Welsh-language American Literature

Followers of Yr Hen Iaith will be very familiar with the way Richard Wyn Jones opens each episode by saying that ‘a lad from Ohio’ is teaching ‘a lad from Anglesey’ about the literature of his own Language. Here’s an episode that was recorded in Ohio, in front of a live audience as part of this year’s NAAWCH conference. 

Since we finished the previous episode by talking about Goronwy Owen in Virginia, we pick up that story again and discuss the only poem which the famous poet from Anglesey composed in America which has survived. But first we discuss the earliest Welsh-language texts written in America – beginning with poetry by sailors from Wales composed in the Caribbean. Here’s an opportunity to learn an astounding fact: a Welsh-language book was published in North America more than half a century before the birth of that new Country, the United States! We also note that the popular legend about Prince Madog is not true, acknowledging that this ‘myth-busting’ will be a disappointment to some people.

Cyflwynwyd gan: Yr Athro Jerry Hunter a'r Athro Richard Wyn Jones 
Cynhyrchwyd gan Richard Martin i Cwmni Mimosa Cymru 
Cerddoriaeth: 'Might Have Done' gan The Molenes 

Darllen Pellach/Further Reading: 
-	Er mwyn dysgu am NAASWCH: https://www.naaswch.wales/saesneg-home
-	Ellis Pugh, Annerich i’r Cymry (Philadelphia, 1721): https://www.library.wales/discover-learn/digital-exhibitions/europeana-rise-of-literacy/expatriate-literature/annerch-ir-cymry-iw-galw-oddiwrth-y-llawer-o-bethau-at-yr-un-peth-angenrheidiol-er-mwyn-cadwedigaeth-eu-heneidiau .
-	Jerry Hunter, ‘Y Gymraeg y tu allan i Gymru: Cipolwg ar Lenyddiaeth Gymraeg yr Unol Daleithiau, 1838-65’, yn Angharad Naylor, Llion Pryderi Roberts a Dylan Foster Evans (goln.), Beth yw’r Gymraeg? (Caerdydd, 2023): https://www.uwp.co.uk/app/uploads/9781786839503_WEB-1.pdf .
-	Gwyn Alf Williams, Madoc: The Making of a Myth (Rhydychen, 1987)
-	Pennod 4: ‘Yr Indiaid Cymreig: Y Cyfaill o’r Hen Wlad a Llên y Madogwys’ yn Jerry Hunter, Llwybrau Cenhedloedd [:] Cyd-destunoli’r Genhadaeth Gymreig i’r Tsalagi (Caerdydd, 2012).
-	Jerry Hunter, ‘Myth and Historiography: One Hundred and Sixty Years of Madog and the Madogwys’, yn Kristin A. Cook a Robert Lawson-Peebels (goln.), Writing the Americas, 1480-1826 (rhifyn arbennig: Yearbook of English Studies, 2016).


Pennod 75 - ‘Bro coedydd, gelltydd gwylltion’: Dechreuadau Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg America

Leon and Russell look back at the final round of World Cup qualifiers, a window that started frustratingly in Vaduz but ended in Cardiff with the biggest victory in 47 years.

Mae Leon a Russell yn edrych yn ôl at y rownd olaf cyfnod rhagbrofol Cwpan y Byd, ffenest a ddechreuodd yn rhwystrol yn Vaduz ond daeth ar ben yng Nghaerdydd gyda'r ffudugoliaeth fwyaf ers 47 mlynedd.

______________________

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Music credit | Credyd cerdd:
Birds and Trees and Flowers - The Jonah Hex

Ep.195 - Seventh Heaven: Liechtenstein and North Macedonia review

Support us: buymeacoffee.com/colemansdream

After a bit of a nail-biter in Vaduz, Wales swept aside North Macedonia to finish second in the qualifying group and grab a spot in the second pot for the playoffs - crucial in securing us home draws for both of our playoff matches. Bosnia to come in March before potentially Italy or Northern Ireland. It's an exciting few months ahead....

7th Heaven for Playoff Bound Cymru

Podlediad Saesneg am dimau pêl-droed cenedlaethol Cymru

English language podcast about the Wales national football teams

#NoTeamGB #Cymraeg

Cyflwyniad hwyliog i hanes llenyddiaeth Gymraeg, gyda, Jerry Hunter, hogyn o’r Midwest yn America yn dysgu Richard Wyn Jones, hogyn o ganolbarth Sir Fôn, am drysorau’i iaith ei hun.

ZooMoot 

Long live compassionate intelligence.
Hir oes i ddeallusrwydd tosturiol.
Hir oes i ddeallusrwydd tosturiol
Longue vie à l'intelligence compatissante
Larga vida a la inteligencia compasiva
Lang lebe das mitfühlende Intelligenz
Lunga vita all'intelligenza compassionevole
Vida longa à inteligência compassiva
Lang leve het meelevende verstand
Да здравствует сострадательный интеллект
长存仁爱智慧
تحيا الذكاء الرحيم
दयालु बुद्धिमत्ता अमर रहे
慈悲の知性が永遠に
Lang leve den medfølende intelligens
Lång liv med den medkännande intelligensen
Kaua elagu kaastundlik intelligentsus
Elagu kaastundlik intelligentsus
Leve den medfølende intelligensen
Da vivere alla compassionevole intelligenza
Lang leve de medfølende intelligentie
Живеј долго со сочувствителната интелигенција
Viva la inteligencia compasiva
Éljen a könyörületes intelligencia
Dlouhý život soucitné inteligenci
Ζήτω η συμπονετική νοημοσύνη
Vivat intellegentia compassiva
Lang leve den empatiske intelligensen
Laipėna laipana intelektu
Éljen a részvétteljes intelligencia
Živjela suosjećajna inteligencija
Daugelio metų užuojautai
Llwyddiant i'r ddeallusrwydd tosturiol
Хай живе співчутливий інтелект
пусть живет сострадательный интеллект

Member of the Senedd Lee Waters is joined by Professor Laura McAllister of the Wales Governance Centre and Lauren McEvatt, former special adviser in the Wales Office, to analyse and debate the latest in Welsh Politics.

Listen to Dai and Ruth, two Welsh exiles living in the Netherlands and US, talk Welsh football. They explore the Welsh football fan experience, as well as discussing Welsh football news, gossip and matches.

New tracks tagged #Cymru